Twenty-five days?!
When that glaring red warning text appeared in his consciousness under Low Performance Mode, Hiroki almost lost the artificial calm forced on him by the Task Manager.
Are you freaking kidding me!
Never mind twenty-five days—he wouldn't even survive twenty-five hours!
The Cloud ninja captain had already given clear orders to "dispose" of him the moment they left the village.
Full system copying was completely impractical. His computer's transfer efficiency was pathetically low! He had no idea how to upgrade the hardware either...
He had to abandon this brute-force approach—it was the most inefficient, stupidest method possible.
He needed to find a way to survive first, then figure out how to escape this situation with Kushina!
Maybe copy an escape jutsu first to break free from restraints, then use his abilities to try deleting all the enemy's techniques and taijutsu, then he could... No, that wouldn't work. He didn't have any killing moves, and he'd need to copy a one-hit-kill technique to stand a chance!
But even that would only let him take out one person. The other Cloud ninja weren't in contact with him—how could he delete their files?
Hiroki forced his brain to race.
His primary strategy now was... stalling.
Stall until Minato showed up like in the original story, or until ANBU caught up!
But what could a programmer do to buy time?
He couldn't exactly plant malware in their brains, right?
Wait...
Malware?
Hiroki's eyes lit up with an idea.
He should be able to delete the other guy's files, right?
...No, that wouldn't work either. Even if he could delete all this guy's memories and thoughts, that would only take out one person. The moment the other ninja noticed, he'd be killed instantly!
Were there any other options?
Hiroki's mental cursor decisively clicked the Cancel button on the file transfer window. Then he reopened the window labeled "Sakutchi's Computer."
Hiroki browsed through the guy's C: drive files.
Where would a real programmer look first when hunting for system vulnerabilities?
The answer was obvious.
Hiroki's gaze locked onto an inconspicuous folder—Temp.
The temporary files folder.
All the cache files, logs, and temporary data generated during system operation got dumped here. It was chaotic, massive, and completely unremarkable, yet it was the most overlooked place that best reflected the system's current state.
Hiroki mentally "double-clicked" to enter.
Countless tiny files instantly flooded his "screen." Their names were random: footstep_sound_01.wav, leaf_shape_scan.jpg, task_priority_log.txt...
But Hiroki could tell from the naming format that these files represented external information and fleeting thoughts received by the Cloud ninja Sakutchi who was carrying him.
Hiroki rapidly browsed through these "cache files," searching for any exploitable breakthrough.
Suddenly, one filename made him stop.
Suspicion_Captain_Merit_Distribution.log
Hiroki's heart jumped. He immediately "opened" the log file, which contained only a simple line of text:
[xx-19:07:35]
"That Uzumaki brat is worth a fortune... The captain wouldn't want to hog all the credit for this mission, would he..."
That's it!
Hiroki's brain kicked into overdrive, and he couldn't help but grin.
No, he couldn't smile yet.
Hiroki opened Task Manager and quickly ended the process called "Joy"—he needed to stay calm. His bold idea hadn't been tested yet!
He wanted to copy this folder—but not for himself. For the Cloud ninja Sakutchi.
He couldn't create a completely new thought and force it on the guy—that would be too obvious. But he could modify and amplify this existing "thought file," letting Sakutchi's own logical, reasonable "flash of insight" flood his entire Temp folder.
His consciousness became a keyboard, fingers flying.
He selected the file 'Suspicion_Captain_Merit_Distribution.log' and pressed Ctrl+C to copy. Then he pressed Ctrl+V to paste.
Suspicion_Captain_Merit_Distribution_Copy.log
He renamed the copy to 'Value_Assessment_Hostage.log'
Then he "opened" the new file and added a new "variable" after the original text "...That Uzumaki brat is worth a fortune...":
—Can't kill this unconscious kid yet. What if the captain takes the others and runs off with the red-haired brat while I'm wasting time disposing of the body!
Without missing a beat, Hiroki selected this modified "thought file" and then unleashed hundreds of Ctrl+V commands in the guy's Temp folder!
In an instant, hundreds of identical "temporary thoughts" were forcibly injected into Sakutchi's immediate memory stream, washing over his original thinking like a tidal wave.
...
In the real world, the Cloud ninja squad racing at high speed was about to break through the last patch of forest. The captain glanced at the sky and spoke coldly: "This is far enough. Sakutchi, dispose of the brat. Make it quick and clean."
"Yes!" The ninja called Sakutchi instinctively responded, tossing Hiroki to the ground and drawing the kunai from his waist.
But just as he was about to strike, a thought shot through his mind like lightning—incredibly strong, incredibly clear—this kid... just kill him like this?
What if the captain wanted to use the time he spent disposing of the body to run off with the others and that red-haired brat! Were they trying to hog all the credit?!
The thought seemed so logical, as if he'd reached this conclusion through careful consideration.
"Captain, wait!" Sakutchi blurted out.
The captain, who'd been preparing to stand guard, frowned in displeasure. "What now? Stop dawdling."
"Captain, I think something's off about this kid!"
Sakutchi nudged the motionless Hiroki with his toe. "Think about it—he managed to slip out of the ninja academy with that Uzumaki girl, and we just happened to run into both of them. It's too much of a coincidence. What if... he's the heir of someone important, assigned to secretly protect the red-head?"
The captain's eyes flashed with impatience. "Stop making wild guesses. A brat with chakra that pathetically weak—what value could he have?"
"No, that weakness is exactly what's suspicious!" Sakutchi's thinking became unusually "clear" under the guidance of Hiroki's planted "cache," "It could be a disguise! Bring him back, let the village's specialists interrogate him. We might get some unexpected intelligence about Konoha's defenses. That's way more valuable than just killing him! Even if he's useless, we can always dispose of him later!"
Seeing his subordinate so insistent, even excited, the captain fell silent.
He thought it was overkill, but Sakutchi's words weren't entirely unreasonable.
This mission to kidnap an Uzumaki descendant was S-rank—any small gain was worth pursuing.
Most importantly, time was short. He didn't have time to argue over one kid's fate.
"Fine," the captain finally waved dismissively. "Keep him alive for now. But you watch him closely. If he tries anything funny, you deal with him personally!"
"Yes, Captain!" Sakutchi's heart leaped, feeling like he'd cleverly exposed the captain's plot to monopolize the red-haired brat!
As Sakutchi hoisted him back up, Hiroki breathed a long sigh of relief deep inside.
He'd won the gamble.
His first "junk data attack" had successfully commuted his death sentence to "death with reprieve."
But he couldn't relax for a second, because "death with reprieve" was still death.
He still needed to figure out how to escape this predicament—that was the main priority! His junk file attack was just to buy time.
And the purpose of buying time was naturally to copy jutsu! Hiroki gazed longingly at the opponent's jutsu library... so much there, but he could only copy such a tiny bit...
What a waste.
But survival came first! Hiroki didn't hesitate any longer and quickly selected three jutsu.
Rope Escape Technique, Lightning Release: False Darkness, and Basic Cloud-Style Taijutsu!
Rope escape was essential for breaking free, the taijutsu basics might let him make physical contact with enemies in future fights and find chances to plant junk data in an instant. And Lightning Release: False Darkness would be his only weapon for killing Cloud ninja with his bare hands!
The next moment, three new tasks appeared in his "download queue."
Calculating required time and space...
Total: 3 files, Total size: 17.24MB
Copying files from Other Computer (Sakutchi) D1 Drive (Memory) to My Computer (Sawada Hiroki) D Drive (Memory): Ninjutsu Backup
Files remaining: 3
Basic_Cloud_Taijutsu.zip - 5.6MB - Estimated time: 1 hour 2 minutes
Rope_Escape_Technique.zip - 640KB - Estimated time: 7 minutes
Lightning_Release_False_Darkness.exe - 11.0MB - Estimated time: 2 hours 3 minutes